In most urbanized areas, nonresidential space accounts for a third or more of the built environment (excluding rights-of-way and other public spaces)

In most metropolitan areas, land values increase over time at least in proportion to population growth, and the higher the land value the more intensively land needs to be used to justify the cost of acquiring the property and redeveloping it.

over one hundred years, the present value of an acre of open space not developed would be in the range of about $265,000 per acre.6

is $6,000 per acre annually in the United States

living in a typical single-family detached home in an auto-dependent suburb, living in an energy-efficient attached home in a suburban location can reduce total building and transportation energy consumption up to 64 percent. Living in such a home in an urban location can reduce consumption by up to 75 percent.

many of our institutions are barriers to achieving market-driven preferences. How we should change them is the subject of the last chapter.

Starting at 4.60 persons per household in 1900, average household size fell steadily to 2.59 persons per household in 2000.19

targeted audiences—scientists, policymakers, environmental advocates, the media, and concerned citizens—who can and will take action to protect the plants and animals that enrich our world, the ecosystems we need to survive, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.

since the mid-1990s, the standardized test score gap among whites, blacks, and Hispanics has not changed appreciably over the past decade. The result for the future is lower incomes and higher unemployment rates. This will also affect long-term national home-ownership rates.